If You Didn’t Love Every Single Moment Of That Atlanta Home Series, eSports Just Aren’t For You (CoD League RECAP)
[Editor's Note:This is another guest blog from prospective Gaming blogger, @UnfilteredNerd, who knows his stuff and then some. Go and give him a follow.]
Holy fucking shit what a weekend. Seriously, I have never been more in love with eSports than after that Atlanta Home Series. Let’s just jump right into the recap:
It Was All Chalk Until Prestini And The Florida Mutineers Went On A Tear
Man what juice did OGRE 2 give those Florida boys Saturday night? Everything was going as I had predicted all weekend. Atlanta and Chicago won their groups, Toronto and LA got knocked out, and the rest faced off Sunday morning for a place in the Finals tournament. Minnesota played well like I thought they would and handled Paris twice, but the surprise of the weekend was Florida. After losing their opener against London, they came back Sunday morning and not only avenged that loss but upset the heavily-favored Chicago Huntsmen in the semi-finals. Brothers and reigning world champs Prestinni and Arcitys shared this moment after the match:
It’s the first time this season that the brothers have faced off against each other, and while they try to keep it professional off the stage you can tell there’s a bit of a chip on Prestinni’s shoulder when he yelled “YOU NEED ME” at his brother immediately after the match.
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It was the culmination of over a year of frustration for the passionate reigning champ, who was constantly told he couldn’t win without his brother even to the point where he almost didn’t get picked up by a team at all this year. But he proved all the doubters and haters wrong with a huge showing against his brother’s new squad and the W. They would end up getting swept by Atlanta in the Finals, but the Florida Mutineers have proven they belong among the elite in the CoD League.
Speaking Of Chicago, Very Off Weekend For My Boys
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You could just tell from the get go when they barely beat Toronto (one of the worst teams in the league) that there was something going on with the Huntsmen. Not really sure what it was. Scump wasn’t as dominant as he normally is, Gunless was MIA all weekend, and Envoy and Formal had flashes but ultimately weren’t as in-form as they were in London. Honestly, Arcitys was the only one that showed up for every game. It’s very strange to me because I watched them in scrimmage games this week and they looked just unbeatable against anyone other than Atlanta. They have a month off until their next event in Dallas and I think it’ll be a long one for each of the Huntsmen.
Atlanta Is Raw, But Not As Invincible As We Thought (Really No One Is)
There were times this weekend that I didn’t know if Atlanta would even drop a round. They just suffocate teams with their aggressive playstyle and positioning. But then they faced off against Minnesota in the semis and everything went fucking insane. Every single round was close all the way to the end, and Minnesota started the match up 2-0. But FaZe showed why they’re the best in the league by coming back and reverse sweeping the Rokkr and sweeping Florida later to take home the Atlanta Home Series Championship. Prior to this weekend, we all thought that Atlanta vs Chicago in the championship game was inevitable. But if there's one thing we’ve learned this weekend it’s that anyone can beat anyone on any given day in this league.
Play Of The Weekend - Chicago Barely Escapes A Major Upset
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I mean that 100%. I legitimately was sitting like 5 inches in front of my monitor during that entire Search & Destroy match. The last time I did that? OT in the Bills overtime loss to the Houston Texans.
A Quick Note On Gambling…
To all the online sportsbooks out there, FUCK. YOU. I literally went 8-2 on picks this weekend, and I was only able to bet 3 of them because none of the sportsbooks got off their asses and added CoD League lines throughout the weekend. Hell, even my personal bookie wouldn’t do it and I screamed at him over the phone for like 20 minutes for not taking my action. Pissed me the fuck off. We have two weeks until the next Home Series guys. Someone figure it the fuck out. But outside of that, I think I just became the go-to guy for CoD League betting.
The Unfiltered Nerd’s Power Rankings (Prior Ranking In Parentheses)
1. Atlanta FaZe (2) - This is a nasty squad from top to bottom. Minnesota gave them a scare, but this team proved this weekend that they’re the undisputed best team in the league.
2. Chicago Huntsman (1) - Tough weekend for the boys. They have 5 weeks off to get out of whatever funk they were in, and I’m sure they’ll come out strong. Expect a big bounce-back weekend in Dallas.
3. Minnesota Rokkr (3) - Very very strong showing by the Rokkr. This team is fun to watch and I think they’re a dark horse contender if they can pick up a Home Series Championship or two.
4. Dallas Empire (4) - BYE
5. Florida Mutineers (7) - I want to put this squad over the Empire pretty badly, but I’m going to hold off until the next event. That was a very emotionally charged win against Chicago and I’m curious to see if they can beat someone like Dallas without that fueling them.
6. London Royal Ravens (5) - I’m sure they would have preferred to make the Finals tournament this weekend but they ran into a completely different Florida team than the one they beat in the opener on Saturday. Still, this team is very good, especially when the twins (Wuskin and Skrapz) are going off.
7. Paris Legion (6) - Not a great outing by Paris this weekend. Two losses to Minnesota including a 0-6 loss in Game 5 of the knockout game on Sunday. Can Paris win a big game? They haven’t shown it thus far...
8. New York Subliners (8) - BYE
9. Seattle Surge (9) – BYE
10. Toronto Ultra (12) - They gave me a heart attack against Chicago and I’ll admit this weekend they proved they’re a bit more than a practice squad team to me, but they’re still not good. They’re desperate for a win though and I’m curious to see if they make a change or trade soon.
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11. LA Guerrillas (10) - BYE
12. Optic Gaming LA (11) - I mean, what do you want me to say here? They’ve played 2 events now and haven’t walked away with a single point. They’re garbage and an embarrassment to the OpTic name. I’d be shocked if they didn’t make a change before their Home Series in two weeks.
What’s Next?
The CoD League heads to LA on March 7-8. The Huntsmen and European teams will all be on bye, but Atlanta, Dallas, Florida, and Minnesota will all be active. Also, we’ll get to see how the roster changes for Seattle and LA Guerillas changes the outlook for those teams. See you then fuckers.
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